A Sea of Crystal Blue
by magicsprite
Summary: This is an... interesting fic. I really don't want to ruin it for you, but it's a romance that will somehow involve Tidus and Wakka. NOT yaoi, slash, shounen ai. Don't worry, boys, it's clean. Oh, and it's PG-13 just to be safe.
1. To Blitz!

Ok, ok. I promised what, weekly updates? I know, I'm not the best at honoring these things, but here we go, a brand new fanfic that absolutely NO ONE has seen. I'm listening to Millencollin, the ideas have been forming for days, and I'm fricken' pumped. Alllll right! For those of you... devout fans... STILL waiting for the updates to "Upon the Hearts of Others," and (who, this is an old one) "Violet Sighted Love," need to wait only a little longer. I wanted to write a FFX fanfiction REALLY badly, so here we go, an unbelievably odd tale in which... well, I don't want to ruin it. Just read on.  
  
Disclaimer: All FFX characters belong (Unfairly) to Squaresoft Entertainment. Yes. I think only a few original characters and plot bunnies actually ARE mine.  
  
"A Sea of Crystal Blue"  
  
"Hey, babe! Where ya' going after the game?" A man in long pants and a t-shirt grabbed the girl's arm from a crowd. "Come on, we can go get s drink, and... a little more, if you get my meaning." He winked at the young woman, still in her late, teenaged years, and was greeted with a look of disgust at his alcohol-scented breath.  
  
"Yeah, right." She shook her hair, the short, brown-blonde spikes tossing about her ears. The triangular earrings twirled, blinding the drunk, and he stumbled backwards. "I don't do that kind of thing, but maybe the hospice can help you out a little. I hear they have meetings there for people trying to let go of the spirits." She pushed past the man, and came to a stop in front of an even larger crowd.  
  
"Can I have your autograph? Please, please, please?" A small girl with a high-pitched voice reached up to the elder to give her a piece of paper and stubby pencil. "You're my hero! I want to grow up to be a famous blitzball player just like you!" The red-head bounced up and down when the woman took the signing supplies, and squealed in delight when she was addressed.  
  
"Who should I make it out to?" The elder woman smiled. She remembered being star-struck the first time she met her father's blitzball team. She had jumped and run and followed them about for the entire day, and only left when the man named Jecht she called "father" told her to run home and tell her mother that daddy and the gang were going drinking. It had been a great day.  
  
"Mystrel! That's M-Y-S-T-R-E-L! That's my name." Mystrel grinned, her bubbly personality going over the edge as her hero signed the slip of scratch paper.   
  
"To: Mystrel, a soon to be famous blitzer. Love always,--" The woman was cut short as one of her teammates waved from the far end of the crowd.  
  
"YO! We start playing in... 5 minutes! You better get your sorry rear over here! You may be the star of the Zanarkand Abes, but if you don't show, you don't get payed, just like the rest of us!" The male blitzer disappeared back into the locker-room, and the woman he had been talking to cursed under her breath.  
  
"I'm really very sorry, Mystrel, but I have to go." The woman's voice was truly and sincerely sorry, and she frowned at the younger girl. "I have to go play, but look, if you want, I'll meet you here after the game if I win! Whistle when you're in the stands!" She bent over, gave Mystrel a hug, and turned to run towards the domed stadium, which, by now, had nearly completely filled with water. As she ran, she heard the high voice of Mystrel calling, "Yaaaaaaaaay!!! Goooood Luck!" The elder woman turned, and looking over her shoulder saw Mystrel in her blue dress, standing on the fountain and waving her arm off.  
  
She stopped for a second, stuck two fingers in her mouth, and whistled, hard. The sound pierced the air, and she turned once more to run towards the double doors of the locker room. She rushed past people, animals, and shopping pavilions, all the while watching the high clock of Zanarkand.  
  
As she entered the building, she caught her reflection in a mirror. For just a moment she paused to straighten her outfit and critique her clothes. The teenaged girl wore baggy blue jean shorts that were obviously designed for a boy. Her father had said they made her twiggy legs look less scrawny right before he left, so now she wore them always. Her top was a white crop-off that exposed her midriff and upper hips. Although she was still very skinny, she had filled out nicely, and to avoid looking to raunchy in her underwater playing conditions, she wore a yellow and blue cropped vest over the shirt.   
  
She struggled to straighten her hair, but failed. It was still very spiky, and the neck-length of it made this no better. She tugged at her fingertip gloves so that she could get a better hold on the blitz ball, and then bent over to tighten her shoes. Tying the big boots, she realized that her necklace had become crooked, and after straightening up, she fixed that too.  
  
"Well," she grinned at the mirror with an idiotic smile, "it's not going to get any better than that!" She left her image and ran to the players' gate, entering the stadium to thousands of cheering faces.   
  
"And, finally," the announcer stressed the word bitterly. "Star of the Zanarkand Abes and Captain, TIDUS!!!!!!"  
  
Tidus took a running start, and dove off the raised platform into the levitating ball of water, her form neatly cutting the water as she readied herself to play the game she had devoted her life to: Blitzball.  
  
Well? What do you all think? I know my hundreds of friends and fans will want to leave a review... the rest of you can too! Oh, yeah, and I'll give five points to anyone on my running scoreboard who can tell me where Mystrel is from. Or, the FIRST person who can tell me. I'll keep a running tally, and tell you who's winning at the point of each update! New chapter in a few days, and I apologize for all typos– it's midnight!!  
  
Love you all,  
  
Mara 


	2. Into the Mystery

Well? I never did ask you guys what the general response to my err... "mystery" character was. Do you guys like Tidus's new, female form? I know, kind of odd, but I really like to read the pairing of Tidus and another certain FFX character, but don't have the nerve to write about it in their current states. So, Tidus is a girly, and as the plot arises, we shall find out more!  
  
Disclaimer: Since people seem to take these things seriously, so yes! I DO own Final Fantasy X. I'm also a millionaire, drive three Porches, and NO, my furniture is NOT made of cardboard. I'm living the high life now!  
  
"A Sea of Crystal Blue"  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Tidus kicked, swam, paddled and scored. Quickly, she led her team to a high score that would be virtually invincible. After her eighth goal, she looked up to check the scoreboard. One hundred and ten to twenty.  
  
'Yes!' Tidus reached up and pulled down a victory fist. 'We have this in the bag!' she thought, very proud of her astounding contributions. 'All we have to do is survive this game for five more minutes and it's ours.' She started to signal her team to go on the defensive, but stopped at the sight that caught her eyes.  
  
High above the stadium, a giant golden orb floated, and from it numerous nasty creatures were spewing. Tidus opened her mouth underwater and was rewarded with a gulp of water. Coughing and spluttering, she swam over to the diving platform, where she struggled out of the water and landed face down. A pair of strong arms grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up, setting her on her feet once more.  
  
"Sin. And its spawn. We need to move, NOW!" The man dragged Tidus along, and Tidus, with her head still down, had no idea where she was going or who was leading her. Wrenching her arms free, she shook off the leader and looked up at him. Tidus let out an audible gasp, at which the man smiled.  
  
"Auron! Where have you been these past few years?" Tidus rushed to him and gave him a hug. "I haven't seen you in... forever!" She bounced up and down, clearly ecstatic to see her old friend and the closest person to a mentor that she haw.  
  
"That does not matter now. You see the monsters?" He beckoned with his free arm. "They come from Sin, a monster of great and horrible powers. Some are simply his scales, or blood, or other such parts of the whole. Others are actual young that he created. They now threaten Zanarkand, and I am here to take you away from it." Auron once again grabbed her arm, and started a quick run up a road towards the glowing orb.  
  
Once again, Tidus shook him off and stopped. "What do you mean, leave? I'm not leaving, there are things I need to do! I– Mystrel!" With a sudden look of desperate fear, Tidus turned and ran in the opposite direction, heading towards the fountain.  
  
"Tidus, no!" Auron started after her, and quickly caught up. "Your story should not end here! You need to come with me, to fight Sin!" He snatched at her, but missed. "Who is this Mystrel that she is so important to you?"  
  
"She's my friend... I mean, kind of... I don't know. I promised to meet her here!" Tidus and Auron had by now reached the fountain, and the prior was now frantically searching for the young girl she had just met. Stepping forward, Tidus located a swatch of blue fabric under a piece of rock, and near it an outstretched, pale hand, also covered by the fallen column of stone. "No..." She let her voice trail off, unheard in the roar and chaos of the collapsing city. "She... she waited. And it's my fault..." Tidus sunk to her knees and started to cry.   
  
"Tidus..." Auron stopped at the sight of the young woman weeping on the ground. "I... I know this is hard for you, but we need to move." Auron's gruff voice difficultly found a soothing tone. "Your story does not end here. Her's did, and there is nothing we can do."  
  
Tidus turned on him, furious at what he was suggesting. "How could you say that?! She was younger than ten, and now she's gone, because I told her to wait here! My story deserves to end, whatever that means!" She stood up, and raised a fist, ready to pound Auron's chest, no matter how much it would hurt her.  
  
Before she could plant a single blow, a large dragon-like beast landed a few feet away from her, the shockwave of its descending knocking Tidus off her feet. She picked herself up, and looked at Auron, who was drawing out two swords.   
  
"Here, take this." He handed the smaller and thinner sword to Tidus. "Aim for the head, and watch the waves of wind it will send from its wings. It's a Garuda, and quite deadly, I assure you." Auron then readied his own sword, and attacked. Swinging and slicing, he hacked at the beast, retreating only after the thing had been severely weakened. "Your turn." He looked over at Tidus, forcing a smile, but only achieved a look of sinister malice.  
  
"But... why can't you handle it?" Tidus was incredulous, the thought of killing a beast ten times her size was beyond her.  
  
"The laws of Yevon forbid a fighter to attack twice in a row. Take your opportunity before the Garuda steals it!"   
  
"Yevon...?" she asked meekly, unable to argue. Auron nodded, and shoved her forwards. Tidus raised the sword, and with an instinctual flip, brought the blade down, causing the giant beast to dissolve in a cloud of colorful lights.  
  
"I just..." Tidus's eyes went round, and her left leg took a step backwards against her will.   
  
"Excellent! Your father would be proud of you. Very proud." Auron turned, grinning sadistically, and beckoning Tidus to follow.  
  
"My... father?" She looked down at her sword, shook her head, and followed Auron up the bridge, stopping to periodically hack down and kill her opponents. Bye the time they reached the top pinnacle of the bridge, they were both exhausted, and had nowhere to go. Auron pulled two disgusting looking potions from his bag and passed one to Tidus.  
  
"Drink it. A wonderful restorative, it was made by the Guado. You'll feel better in no time." Auron raised his own flask then and chugged it, wincing at the taste.  
  
Tidus shut her eyes, and she too, took a big gulp. Spluttering at the horrible flavor, she turned to Auron. "What in all," she stopped to cough, "what in all of hell IS this stuff, Auron?"  
  
"I told you. Guado Potion. Drink it all." Auron downed the rest of it, and laughed as Tidus choked down the rest of hers.  
  
As soon as she had finished, Tidus searched her surroundings. They had come to the bridge's point, but it ended there. The large golden globe was only slightly overhead, and Tidus felt its pull attracting everything within range. Her own necklace jerked upwards, where it hung suspended, tugging at her neck, yearning to enter the void.  
  
Tidus looked down, but the choppy sea below the bridge offered her no hope of escape. Turning back now would be impossible, as the crumbling city had laid waste to their path.   
  
"Auron?" Looking over, Tidus noticed with horror that Auron had sheathed his Katana, and was letting the golden orb pull him up slowly, towards its center. "What are you..." Tidus trailed off as Auron lightly took her hand and held it to his chest.  
  
"Come with me? Please? Wherever it dumps you, you'll be safe, and your story does not end here. You must come." Auron's face was almost pleading, and it startled Tidus so much that she nodded. She slipped her own sword into her belt-loop, and removed her foot from under the cable she had braced herself with. She felt herself silently lift into the air, and the higher she went, the stronger the pull.  
  
"Auron, where are we going?" Tidus's voice was barely a whisper, and although she knew Auron could not hear her, she spoke anyways. Auron dropped the young woman's hand, and stretched out his arms.  
  
"Finally, back to Spira!" A look of true content passed his face, and with that, he disappeared. Now truly scared that she was alone, Tidus tried to go back, but only succeeded in having her legs pulled out from underneath her. As she struggled with the void, a sort of warmth enveloped her, and she began to cry. The words of her father returned to her.  
  
"Don't let them see you cry. NEVER let them see you cry." Tidus shook her head, and the tears stopped. She closed her eyes, ready to accept a fate she didn't want, whispered something even she didn't understand, and lost conciousness.  
  
  
  
In a time far along, a man with bright orange hair holding a blitzball looked up. He searched the skies, looking for unknown fiend or monster that had made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The blitzball team gathered around him looked at him curiously, until one stepped forward.  
  
"Yo, Captain? You ok? You look like death passed over you just then." The dark-skinned blitzer looked at his captain uncertainly, and with an air of concern,  
  
"Nah... It's just, I thought I felt something back there, ya'? Almost like... Ah, forget it. Get ready team, BLITZ!" With a toss of the ball and a shake of his head, the Blitzball captain ridded himself of the odd feeling, yet somehow, it stayed with him.  
  
Author's Notes: So, we have Tidus's disappearance, the introduction of Wakka (please tell me you all knew it was him...), and some implied feelings of Auron, all in a very long chapter. Now, don't take anything I write down here seriously, I mean, ANYTHING can still happen; I'm a psychopath, you see. I know that the lines and actions of the opening scene are very different, but it kind of needed to be that way. Plus, I don't... er, exactly recall the opening game segment. Oh well. I like it this way. Plus, I'm finally getting used to writing "she" and "her" in accordance with "Tidus." This is going pretty well. Any questions/comments/criticisms/reviews/ as well as FLAMES will be taken into acount, and used to help me burn my marshmallows for S'mores. Oh, yes, and seeing as no one yet has gotten my chapter question, all points belong to ME! The new question: "Ten points if you can name the author of... SAIYUKI!!" Leave all answers in a review, and remember, the last question is STILL open for five points.   
  
–Mara 


	3. Al Bhedian Snow Wolf

A Sea of Crystal Blue  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Grrr... everyone should know by now that my nonexistent updates are due to the fact that I have the Sassy virus on my computer. Grrreat. I'm typing his on a '92 Epson laptop. It's a blast from the past and a literal pain in the leg. It's on my lap and weighs ten or so pounds. Yippee. On top of that, I don't have internet connection, so can only hope to get to the library to submit this chapter. So, now that I have sufficiently blathered, on with the show!  
  
Tidus awoke in a hazy fog, her face scraped and arms sore from clinging to a half-submerged rock. She hauled herself up, and tiredly looked around her new surroundings.  
  
A far cry from the glistening turrets and buildings of Zanarkand, Tidus was in the middle of a sea. As far as she could see, there were no buildings, people, or sources of warmth for miles. The water lapped at her feet gently, and with a sort of exasperated horror, she noticed that she was completely alone.  
  
"Auron...?" Tidus whispered faintly, knowing that even if he were there, the old friend would not hear her. Luckily, Tidus still clutched the long red blade that Auron had given her. Looking up, Tidus noticed ripples in the water, and before she could better prepare herself, she was attacked.  
  
A large fish with sadistic looking green fins reared out of the water and bit her arm, leaving a nasty cut. Tidus dove into the water and swam away with all her might. She could scarcely hold her sword, let alone fight. When she finally knew she could go no farther, a large platform appeared before her, and on it she could see a building.   
  
Tidus walked out of the sea, now truly exhausted, and went into the room that appeared to be some sort of temple. She located some dried flowers and flint on a shelf, and lit a fire with them. Warily, she looked around one last time, and then collapsed with a sheer inability to go on.  
  
When Tidus woke for the second time that day, she opened her eyes to a scene of utter chaos. At some point, a large green monster that slightly resembled a dragon had entered her sleeping place, and now several humans had joined it, but not with a friendly air.  
  
The unfamiliar people fought with the green creature, and took turns attacking it until it collapsed in a cloud of colorful lights. The eldest man of the group approached Tidus and asked her something in a language she did not understand. At her obvious look of confusion, the man got angry and repeated what he had said not five minutes earlier, but louder.  
  
"Look, I'm not deaf, I just have no idea what you're saying!" Tidus yelled back, her cheeks flushed at the jeers the other men threw at her. A woman stepped forward, and took the arm of the man threatening Tidus. She said some soothing words and waved her arms. The man appeared to calm down, but instantly barked out something harsh in the same, ambiguous language. Three of the other men came forward, and seized Tidus roughly.  
  
"Hey! What's the big idea? What did I--" Tidus was suddenly silenced, as the elder man hit her on the head from behind with a heavy club. She instantly stopped resisting, and slumped down to the ground.  
  
::Translated Al Bhed:: "That was unnecessary, Father." Rikku looked down at the girl at her feet. She's pretty... her clothes are odd, but she doesn't look like someone who belongs out here...' Rikku thought. She looked up and scratched her head. "Well, we better get her back to the ship!" With a false smile, Rikku helped her brother pick up the girl, and headed back to the boat.  
  
Actually... she looks kind of familiar...' In her head, Rikku thought back to the cry she could have sworn she heard while sitting in her bunk not three hours ago. That's why she and her family and friends were all out at the deserted temple. Although no one else heard the scream, upon telling her father he believed it to be a message: something they needed to check out.  
  
Shrugging her shoulders, the young Al Bhed woman continued back to her current home, ready to wake their new prisoner.   
  
"This is starting to get ridiculous..." Tidus murmured as she once again roused herself from the world of the unconscious. "If I go down one more time today, I might just elect not to get up!" Finding herself on the deck of a large boat, but shackled to one of the masts, Tidus rolled over, and groaned. A large lump had formed on the side of her head, and with little effort she recalled the events before she passed out. "Someone hit me!" Tidus let out a long, low growl, sucked in a huge breath, and started to yell at the top of her lungs.   
  
"If I'm going to be a prisoner, I at least demand food! Come ON, you foreign wack jobs! I'm freaking starving here, and the fact that one of you bozos hit me with a club does NOT help the matter! GET IN HERE NOW!" Out of breath, Tidus plopped down next to a wall. She raised two of her fingers to her lips and blew, letting out a long, shrill whistle. "They'll come if I annoy them enough!" Tidus whistled again and again, the effort needed to produce the sound was much less than to yell, so she continued.  
  
"All right, all right! Will you be quiet already? If my father gets too annoyed with you, he'll just throw you off the side of the boat!" The girl from before appeared in the doorway to the ship's cabin. She still wore her red spandex outfit and goggles, although they were no longer necessary. In her hands was the most beautiful thing Tidus had seen: a plate of steaming food.  
  
"Ohhhhhhh, I love you! Is the food for me? Yes, right? I haven't eaten in..." Tidus quickly calculated on her fingers. "Since hours before my Blitz game, and now... that makes... at least twenty-four hours!" Tidus eyed the food hungrily, and was delighted when it was set before her. Triumphantly, she dug in, but quickly made a face and gagged.  
  
"What the hell IS this garbage?!" Tidus went as close to the edge of the boat as her shackled wrist allowed and spat over the railing. "Ugh! That was... It tasted like leather!" Tidus feigned a swoon and fell to the deck. "Now I'm gonna starve..." To Tidus, this was a worse prospect than being killed by the green dragon she had seen earlier.  
  
The girl next to her giggled. "I've never seen such dramatic reactions to dried and boiled snow wolf!" She shook her head, two feathered braids flopping over her shoulder.  
  
"That was wolf?! Dried and boiled? How in hell do you people live? That was... that was worse than my Dad's cooking!" Tidus spat over the railing again and pretended to wipe her tongue. "The name's Tidus. Blitz player extrordinaire from Zanarkand!" Tidus stood up and gave a huge bow, and for good measure, a curtsy.  
  
"Zanarkand...?" The girl shook her head again and sighed. "I'm Rikku. I'm sorry, but Zanarkand was destroyed more than a thousand years ago." A look of true sorrow appeared on Rikku's face, and she looked down at her feet.  
  
"That's not possible!" Tidus smiled at the joke; her jovial air faded when it occurred to her that Rikku wasn't kidding. "But... I was just there! With my friend, Auron! And, we were fighting something he called 'Sin,' and then, I woke up on that rock..." Tidus trailed off and looked up at Rikku, utterly confused.  
  
"Oh... You were fighting Sin?" Tidus nodded. "The poison must have gotten to you. Probably can't remember anything about Spira, now can you?" Tidus shook her head, deep in thought. "Well, then I'd better explain."  
  
Rikku was a great help. She tried to explain all about the land they were now in, Spira, and her people, the Al Bhed. Their language was what had confused Tidus when she first woke up, and Rikku said she would probably learn to speak bits of it as they went along.   
  
Tidus again shook her head. This was too much. However much she tried to explain to Rikku that Zanarkand was NOT a figment of her imagination, the more upset Rikku got. Apparently, Zanarkand was a holy place, and people didn't take kindly to those who pretended to be from it.  
  
"Look. We can take you to Luca! There are always plenty of Blitzers there, and you can meet up with your team! I'm sure somebody will recognize you!" Rikku jumped up and down, now truly excited. Just as she was going to tell the captain to change course, the ship gave a great lurch.  
  
"Sin!" yelled Rikku, and before Tidus knew it, the Al Bhed had crowded the deck, and were firing at the giant fish with weapons Tidus recognized to be machina, or machines. The ship gave another great pitch to the side, and Tidus was tossed painfully. Her wrist shackle prevented her from falling too far, but the combined pain of the bruises from her handcuffs and the fear of drowning if the ship went down made Tidus beg to be released.  
  
Rikku's father rushed over to the chained girl and produced the key to set her free. He also handed her back her weapon, and briskly told her to help. Tidus had no bearing for the sea, and at the next slightest movement of the ship, she fell over. Sin threw out scales, and she fought them the best she could, but without Auron, she felt useless and doomed. The ship lurched again, and this time upset Tidus so badly she slammed into the ship's handrail.   
  
Now stuck between a rock and a hard place, Tidus tried her best to hold on and fight more Sinscales. In a roar of fury, Sin rammed the side of the Al Bhed ship, and Tidus fell over. She tucked her limbs in close and screamed, holding her sword tightly so she wouldn't drop it. Rikku ran to the rail and looked over. "Tidus!" She cried out, but had to quickly turn back to the enemies at hand. Tidus slammed into the water, and with one last cry of pain, lost her senses for the final time that day.  
  
The Blitzball captain looked up again, and was rewarded by being hit in the head with one of the team's official practice Blitzballs. He glanced over at the teammate who had hit him and scowled, quickly looking back to the ocean. For some reason, he was positive that an evil force was at work somewhere in it, and someone he should be worried about greatly was being hurt by it. His brow furrowed in concern, and resignedly, the man turned back to his practice.  
  
Finally... I'm done... And HUNGRY!!! I wrote the whole bit of Tidus's obnoxious yelling because of the painful hunger spasms I am currently enduring. All I've eaten all day is a nectarine. A freakin' nectarine! Grrr... This was the longest chapter I've ever written, though. I'm proud of myself. Five pages. WOOT! Hmmm... I've gotten one review on this fanfic, and it didn't answer any of my questions. First off, thank-you Harrypotterfan55 for your review, it is very much appreciated! As you all know, I do a question every chapter, and they are all still open. They are:  
  
1) Where is the hyper, spunky Mistral (yes... I misspelled it in the first chapter... --.--) from? This is worth... 5 points!  
  
2) Who is the author of my favorite manga, Saiyuki? 5 points!  
  
And the new question?  
  
3) What is the name of Akira's successor in the movie, "Akira"? This one is 8 points! Ooh... valuable! I really do keep track of this, so why don't you give it a guess?  
  
Ok, everyone! Review, leave comments, questions, even burning, flaming balls of hate. I'll take it all!  
  
--Mara   
  
P.S.- I don't know when I'll update next. I'm trying to find someone to fix my computer... So, pretty much just put me on your author alert list and you'll never miss my infrequent updates!  
  
(.)(.)(.) 


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